Case no 20 over, time to move on: Penpa Tsering

Penpa Tsering poses with French Senator André Gattolin during his final statement about Case no 20, in Toronto, Canada, on 5 January 2020.
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By Lobsang Wangyal

Tibet Sun Onlinenews, 6 January 2020

Penpa Tsering, plaintiff in the historic Case no 20 of the exile Tibetans, on Sunday appreciated and thanked the defendant Lobsang Sangay-led Cabinet of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) for finally publishing their apology following the exile Tibetan Supreme court order to offer an apology for wrong charges against him.

The highest exile Tibetan office had issued an apology just ten minutes before the 27 December 4pm deadline. It was published in both Tibetan and English on their information outlets according to the text dictated by the court to tender an apology to Penpa Tsering.

Making a final statement about the Case no 20, which took one year and seven months, Tsering said the case has now come to a close and it is time to move forward. “I do not wish to make any more statements about the case, and hope that I will not be obliged to speak on it anymore,” he said before an audience in Toronto on Sunday 5 January.

A live streaming of the event was relayed via his Facebook account. French Senator André Gattolin in a gesture of support for Penpa Tsering, spoke at the beginning of the event. Close to 100 people were seen in the audience.

Tsering said that the Tibetan version of the apology was according to the court order, but that the English version was unsatisfactory. Explaining the importance of the English version, he said that CTA official announcements are normally published in Tibetan, but when it was about his dismissal, it was in English. “It was therefore important to have the apology published in English for people to know.”

Although he said he’s not going to appeal to the court anymore to rectify how the Cabinet has written their English statement, he suggested the following translation from Tibetan:

“The Kashag’s replacement of Penpa Tsering la from North America Representative and subsequent announcement of the 10-point clarification were based on unreliable sources and misunderstandings that arose out of hearsay; because of which, the Supreme Justice Commission had mentioned in its judgment that Penpa Tsering was wrongly accused of his sincerity, capability and good conduct, and that information not based on facts had circulated in the community. Therefore, the Kashag expresses its apology to Penpa Tsering.”

The Cabinet, while carrying out the court order to offer an apology, had expressed “regret” instead of an “apology” in the English version of their statement which was published on their website.

During his speech, Tsering clarified a few other issues that had been publicly discussed related to the case, including the importance of filing the case, which was to strengthen the nascent Tibetan democracy, and that the rule of law is what matters in a democracy.

Citing Article 1 (c) of the exile Tibetan Charter, he said that it is irrelevant to bring the Dalai Lama and his office into the case, as the Article clearly mentions the Cabinet’s authority in appointing to, or withdrawing from, the post of Representatives in various Office of Tibets.

He dismissed as baseless the idea of Samdhong Rinpoche having any role in the matter or the case, in any form.

Rejecting the charge that the case has regionalism intent, Tsering said, “The case was against the Cabinet, which has people from all the three provinces of Tibet. The case was for the proper functioning of the democracy.”

He rubbished the rumour that he was not getting an audience with the Dalai Lama. “Would it be proper to seek His Holiness’ audience in the middle of the case? I have never used His Holiness’ name for any personal gain. Even if I requested and got an audience, what will the people say? They will then charge me of seeking his favour and influence, and His Holiness may even get criticised.”

Penpa Tsering’s public statement, held at a private venue after the Tibetan community members refused to let him use the community hall, was aimed at fulfilling the court’s order to both the plaintiff and the defendant to work towards bringing unity and harmony within the Tibetan community.

Tsering had filed the defamation case against the Lobsang Sangay-led Cabinet in May 2018 with the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission, which gave its judgment on 14 October 2019. The court gave a second order on 22 November 2019 after the Cabinet failed to fulfil the first order to offer an apology to Penpa Tsering, failing which Sangay and his colleagues would lose their right to stand in any election, as well as their voting rights. The Cabinet then tendered their apology.

The exile Tibetan community was divided between two groups of those supporting Sangay and the other supporting Tsering. The case has dominated much of Tibetan political discourse for the last more than one year.

Comments

There are 12 comments so far.

12.

Dechen Tashi, from Us, says:on 14 January 2020 at 5:51 pm

One thing for all Tibet loving TIBETANS to keep in mind is that whence the voting is over and the final decision is made through (the last count of the votes, we then must respect the winner through majority 🗳 leaving behind all our minor to petty differences for the larger goal ahead of us). I did not vote for PT. But, had he won, my respect for him as my Sikyong would not have been any different. He would have been my Sikyong with full respect and support because I love Tibet. But I do not know LS nor PT, either one in person. I just know they are both Tibet loving individuals wanting to do good for Tibet. We the voters take sides depending on who made more sense to each of based on our own intellectual capacity to grasp their messages. By the way, hats off to comments above. Thank you.

11.

Thokmey D says:on 10 January 2020 at 3:05 am

Just as one swallow doesn’t make Summer, one statement by Penpa Tsering to stop the mudslinging competition don’t put the issue to bed.

In fact, it isn’t the first time that PT has made such declaration. PT and LS similarly declared end to their animosity in 2016 by hugging each other. And we are still in the heat of it.

I tend to believe PT and LS is not the disease, but just the outward system of the deeper disease of tribalism. Even if someone kills PT, there will be another guy who will just be like PT. PT is voted on because the a section of the exile population want someone like him who will embody their views and preserve their personal interests whether it is power, or prestige, sense of self-importance.

The antidote to this disease is a revolution in attitude, and learning to accept each other’s differences and quirks, stop blaming each other as the breaker of unity and kings of regionalism.

Above all, we have to careful about people who say things like, “Those barbaric Khampas are really hard-headed. They are infected with regionalism and tribalism disease.” Will a truly open-minded person say such a thing? Does such statement improve unity or impede it?

In a word, a revolution in thinking is needed to move beyond the swamp of case 20.

10.

NAMGYAL CHOEDON, from Dharamshala, says:on 8 January 2020 at 12:37 pm

kashag is not selected by majority Tibetans around the glode, but chosen by LS.

9.

ཧྲི་TIBET says:on 8 January 2020 at 8:39 pm

In the Presidential systems such as the US, members of the cabinet are chosen by the President and may also be confirmed by one or both houses of the legislature. In a parliamentary democracy, citizens elect representatives སྤྱི་འཐུས་ to a legislative parliament to make necessary laws and decisions for the country. THE PARLIAMENT DIRECTLY REPRESENTS THE PEOPLE. Therefore, while it’s true that the Sikyong nominates the cabinet ministers. It MUST BE ENDORSED BY THE TIBETAN PARLIAMENT. By virtue of the parliament directly representing the people, the parliament’s endorsement of the cabinet amounts to people’s endorsement. They may not be directly elected by the people but they are given fait accompli recognition by the people’s representative and this equals to indirect endorsement by the people as well. If the parliament doesn’t endorse the nominated candidate, that person is ineligible to be a kalon as we saw with Sharling Dadon la, a young, very bright, highly educated, capable and committed rising star shot down by the dark forces of Tibetan political intrigue and sabotage. In a democracy. WE HAVE TO RESPECT THE PEOPLE’S VERDICT whether you like the person or hate the person. The people elected the Sikyong through free elections. Once, the Sikyong is elected, he or she may be not to your personal liking but you have to ACCEPT THE PEOPLE’S VERDICT and show respect. This is how democracy works. This individual nominated the Kashag members but they were ENDORSED by the PEOPLE’S REPRESENTATIVE AND THEREFORE, THEY MUST BE RESPECTED AS THE LEGITIMATE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE TIBETAN PEOPLE. Otherwise, where on earth is the Tibetan leadership? Can you tell me?

8.

ཧུ་ Tibet, from Kollegal, says:on 9 January 2020 at 4:32 pm

@ཧྲི་Tibet:
I think you are the agent of what you describe as ”dark forces of intrigue“ or you are utterly naive, when you heap so much praise on Dadron Sharling who was the mother of all intrigue and darling of dark forces which includes a monk in the garb of Geshe Lharampa. Wake up! Sorry, I know you write here with ulterior motive. Or Sharling family in the business of writing in the name of ཧྲི།?

7.

ཧྲི་TIBET says:on 9 January 2020 at 7:52 pm

In this world, we are all trying to survive and everyone does what is best for their survival. In the world of politics it’s the same. You have to align yourself with the powerful ones in order to survive the pressure of political challenges. While your assertions are unproven and open for scrutiny, for the sake of argument, even if she has done as you allege, what’s wrong with that? Haven’t you heard of Indian politicians changing their loyalty and align with other parties to give themselves a better prospect? Have you not heard of buying the allegiance of others in order to disrupt their power and unseat them? It is therefore NOT A CRIME to act in ones best interest for political survival. It is in fact a norm. That is why the saying, politics makes strange bed fellows! It is well known that Sharling Dhadon was the youngest and most promising Tibetan parliamentarian because of her fame, Sikyong was under pressure to appoint her as the only female Kalon. There is NO DISPUTE with this. However, politics of envy and for her stand on certain issues like women’s rights which is anathema with most Tibetans made her a target. In order to redeem PT of his disloyalty to Sikyong and caught red handed, they heaped ALL THE BLAME ON HER! It was PT who was disloyal to LS and started to turn her against him. She was caught in cross fire between two jealous and overbearing combatants. Her innocence might have let her to tell as it is and for that she was made the convenient scapegoat!! Being a woman, she was an easy target especially in Tibetan conservative society. Dhadon Sharling became what we in Tibetan call མི་དཀར་པོ་ལ་ཞྭ་མོ་ནག་པོ་གཡོག་པ་རེད་ As a result she lost everything: her prestige and political career. I don’t know her and never met her in my life. May truth prevail

6.

Sonam Tsering, from Dharamshala , says:on 7 January 2020 at 11:34 pm

I for one hold both LS and PT responsible for this drama that started from the day when they were selected as final candidates for Sikyong election. There is too much of Pro and Anti LS and PT in the community who look rather irreconcilable. So better for the community to have a new face who is affiliated to neither.

5.

Tsering, from USA, says:on 7 January 2020 at 9:48 pm

Case no 20 is closed. All the Tibetans should get along each other and stop tearing our Unity, talking about the regionalism (Cholka and choeluk). Everyone should work together to fulfill the wishes of HH the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Cause. Every Tibetan Association in and around should allow people to speak, ask questions when in doubt. Do not fall trap under false advertisement in We-Chat (Owned by China) and other social media. UNITY, MOVE FORWARD !! THANK YOU.

4.

ཧྲི་TIBET says:on 7 January 2020 at 8:10 pm

The Tibetan people have a choice. If we don’t want internecine feud, bad blood and constant squabbles to end among ourselves and have a harmonious community, the candidates who have caused such mayhem must be rejected. Not because we dislike them but because the individuals have left a litany of ignominious trail that has deeply compromised the unity of Tibetan exiles. Just as the six organizations in Toronto boycotted PT’s gathering, the Sikyong was unable to visit Sydney in 2019 because PT’s supporters threatened to boycott Sikyong LS. This shows the two groups are now irreconcilable. Just as PT’s supporters didn’t respect the elected leader in Sikyong LS, in the event of PT becoming Sikyong, he would not be respected by the supporters of LS. Without firing a single shot, the CCP has achieved its goal of diminishing the power of the Kashag. In the 1970’s, there was call by the exiles to make an attempt to gain recognition of the exile Government from the International community. The Dalai Lama had this to say at the time. “First it is important, our own people recognize the Government”. དང་པོ་སོ་སོའི་མིས་རང་གི་གཞུང་ངོས་ལེན་བྱེད་རྒྱུ་དེ་གལ་ཆེ་བ་རེད་ What a gem? Today, the supporters of PT trashed and treated LS led Kashag with total disrespect and utter contempt. Tomorrow, if PT is elected as Sikyong, the supporters of LS will treat the Kashag with same contempt and disregard. How does that sound? Is this going to help our movement? Is it going to make the Dalai Lama happy in the twilight of his life? You be the judge. The CCP’s aim is to destroy the exile Government by subverting it and discrediting it so it loses any legitimacy in order to claim its own legitimacy of representing Tibetans. Through petty squabbles and endless feuds, we are only helping our enemy!

Karma, I don’t want to comment about the article but our democracy is moving forward, not backward. So please chant this mantra. “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.” — Elie Wiesel

2.

Karma Thargay, from Toronto, says:on 6 January 2020 at 9:07 pm

Kashag had apologized to the Plaintiff, although it is very sad and misfortune, but to keep the community in harmony. The Government took a bold step, which is unheard of in any country. There are lots of things that bothered me from Plaintiff’s press conference, the most is his sharing the platform with André Gattolin. What is Mr Plaintiff trying to prove, why he is making this internal matter external by inviting a foreign politician? If Plaintiff is a true loyal Tibetan, he would have never organised a conference, and because of his action, he just created disharmony with Tibetan community in Toronto. The President and Vice-President of Tibetan community of Toronto had shown direct disrespect to the Tibetan Government in exile, by participating in Plaintiff’s press conference. The kashag is selected by majority of the Tibetan population across the globe.

1.

gyalpot says:on 6 January 2020 at 8:10 pm

It is highly probable that there are more than just two groups of Tibetan observing what unfolded in Exile. For starters, I don’t think patriotic Tibetans in Tibet enjoyed the drama in exile too much, perhaps they were rather disappointed with the whole charade. Then there are those in exile and not a fan of the Middle Way, who view this as a power struggle in the MW camp. Win or loose, this fiasco did nothing to improve Tibet’s dire situation.